Apartment Photos (Before and After)

BEFORE THE UNPACKING

Kitchen

Office/Dining Room Area

Megan hard at work.

Bathroom Sink Area

Closet Area

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Bedroom (Wall of Boxes)

Bedroom (Obviously)

Balcony

Other half of the Balcony

Middle of Balcony (It really is huge... we got lucky in that aspect)

AFTER THE UNPACKING

Living Room and Office

Kitchen

Bathroom

Living Room (TV looks good...too bad we still have no cable)

Bedroom

Bedroom (Other Wall)

Balcony

Another Perspective

For those of you asking to hear my side of the story . . . Here it is (but I’ll try keep it short because I have a TON of reading I need to work on).


In the time that has elapsed since I last updated you on our adventures our belongings have arrived from SC and I have started the doctoral program at Talbot. As I mentioned in a previous update, August 20 all of our IKEA items finally arrived as well as our fridge. Which was great! Our other belongings finally arrived Sunday August 22 around 12noon, just hours before my doctoral functions started at 6pm!

With that said, the doctoral fun and festivities began August 22 at 6pm with a welcome dinner at the home of Dr. Orbelina Eguizabal (she is originally from Guatemala and can COOK). It was a small get together totaling just nine people. The nine included Dr. Eguizabal, Dr. Lawson, Tanya (the administrative assistant), Jennifer (a fellow student), Agam (a fellow student), Agam’s wife Oge, Agam and Oge’s six month old daughter Chari, Chris, and me. It was nice to finally meet a few more people and be introduced to the program via an informal dinner setting. However, as we ate and socialized I couldn’t help thinking about the disaster that was within the walls of our apartment!

After the dinner I spent several hours unpacking and went to bed leaving many boxes untouched, which many of you know about killed me. The following morning, Monday August 23, was an official welcome to Talbot orientation. The orientation lasted from 8:30am--1pm (Southern California time---which means we started at 8:40am and finished at 12:40pm). It was very informative but very daunting. We were told it is unheard of to complete the program in less than 4 or 5 years----let’s see if I can prove them wrong! I was also shocked, once again, that I even got into the program! There are only four of us in my cohort (incoming class). Let me take a moment to introduce you to them briefly by first name only . . .

Jennifer---she is in her 30’s and has experience teaching, writing curriculum, and working with believers in India. Her passion is to create and take materials back to India to help families and church leaders better equip new believers and produce fruitful, knowledgeable, vibrant Christians.

Agam---he is originally from Nigeria and served as a pastor/leader there before coming here. I am not sure how old Agam is but he does have 3 little girls (6, 4, and 6 months). Agam plans to soak up as much knowledge as possible and take it back to Nigeria to train and prepare leaders to serve the churches working with the city, village, and brush communities.

Beatrice---she is in her 40’s-50’s. Beatrice was born in Seoul, Korea and lived there until age 15. At 15 she moved with her family to Brazil. After marrying her husband she then moved to CA and has been here since. She has two adult sons and teaches at a local university.

Me---then there is me . . . I have no such experiences! I was born on the east coast . . . lived on the east coast my entire life until about three weeks ago. I have no culturally exciting stories to share from my repertoire of experiences. It’s intimidating to say the least! See why I’m still trying to figure out why they accepted me? Surely there were other choices! But I know all of us feel that way . . . I am not alone in these ponderings!

After the orientation I called Chris (during my orientation he was interviewing at Riverside Poly). He was offered the job! YAY! But had to stay a little longer than expected to complete paper work and get the ball rolling. So I had the privilege of staying on campus for . . . 4 hours. Which would have been great if I had a book to read, homework to complete, or knew someone! The day before Jennifer and I had planned to go to the beach right after the orientation but she needed to make it later so Dr. Orbe could join us . . . Which meant I didn’t want to go because I had a TON of unpacking to finish. So, long story short I scoped out the campus. Went to the library. Called anyone I could think of to catch up. And read almost all of Mark’s gospel! Chris finally arrived to pick me up around 5pm and we headed back to our mayhem filled apartment.

By Wednesday everything was unpacked. All that is remaining to complete the place is a small microwave cart and patio table/chairs . . . Once we find all that we will have it all set-up (to my liking at least). We will post some pictures of our place all set up. . . I think you’ll agree it looks way better!

Thursday my classes officially started and syllabus shock was fully and firmly in place. I was heavily warned about Dr. Issler’s 801 Intro. to Philosophical Thought for Christian Education course and rightly so. There is more reading listed on that syllabus than all of my M.Div courses combined (okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration---but it’s close). I’ll keep you posted on how it goes!

Friday we took off on our weekly grocery run . . . 1 list, 4 stores, 4 envelopes of coupons, and lots of money saved!

Saturday and Sunday were complete madness . . . We had our first experience with car shopping and sales men---it was not an all around good experience. We ended up with a used Toyota Corolla. It is silver and has about 25000 miles on it. We settled for it after failed negotiations with the Nissan dealership and Hyundai dealership. Those are stories I’ll tell you in person sometime . . . no need to recount them here. Overall, we got a car and I can now drive myself to and from classes!

Yesterday, I had my first Christian Education class and I LOVED IT! Dr. Shelley Cunningham is the professor for most of the teaching emphasis courses and I’m really excited to learn from her and take as many courses with her as possible. The class I’m taking is 873 Faculty Development in Christian Higher Education. I have no experience in this area but I’m looking forward to learning about it for potential future use! I’ll keep you posted on how that goes as well!

Today, I am reading and preparing for classes and then I have my third, and final, fall course at 3pm (PST). It is a research class . . . So I’m not thrilled about it but it is a necessary evil for Christian Education. I’ll also let you know how that all pans out!

We are settling in more and more but still miss all of you! Please continue to pray for us! We are still looking for a church. We have visited three so far. Nothing wrong with any of them . . . They just don’t feel like home . . .

--Megan

JOB!

Today was my first day of school.  I guess it has been about a week, and there is a gap in the story, so let me back up a little bit.

I was offered the job at Riverside Poly High School in Riverside, CA as their AP Government and AP Economics teacher.  All last week was spent getting the clearance to be able to start... fingerprints, TB test, drug screen, so on and so forth.  I still have some paperwork to fill, which I'll try to finish this week, but I was finally cleared late on Friday, so I was able to start this week, a week behind the students.

Here is my schedule:

0 Period (which starts at 6:55...in the morning!) Government/Economics  (6:55-7:50)
1 Period: AP Government/AP Macroeconomics (8:00-8:52)
2 Period: AP Government/AP Macroeconomics (9:02-9:54)
3 Period: AP Government/AP Macroeconomics (10:04-10:56)
4 Period: Honors Govt./Econ (11:06-12:04)
Lunch
5 Period: Planning

I can leave at 2:00 each day, which is nice, because I do have to get there so early.  Getting up at 4:00 am each morning will be rough, but I am willing to do that for a job.  My classes are huge... averaging around 30-35 students per class, even the AP classes, which I'm not exxactly sure how that will work.  My classes are all around 50 minutes though, with 10 minutes in between.  The school is much larger, around 2800 students.

Needless to say, I'm not at Chesnee anymore...

Job Hunt Overflow

Friday was an eventful day in the job search mayhem that has been my life for the past few weeks.  Let me back up and start at the beginning...

Wednesday night we went to a couple's house for a get-together.  We were invited by a couple, Heather and Dustin, that we met at church the first Sunday that we were here.  They were from Georgia, and that's how we were introduced to them.  Anyway, Thursday night was great because we got to spend time and hang out with four other really cool couples.  As I've heard many times, and even experienced, in a job search it is not what you know, but who you know.

Anne, one of the people we met Wednesday, works at Vineyard Christian School in Anaheim.  She told me that they just had an opening come available for a middle school math teacher.  Now, I am well aware that many would think the last thing I could be is a middle school math teacher, but with the job situation the way it is for teachers out here, I'm willing to take anything.

She spoke with her principal on Thursday, and then contacted me to let me know that if I was interested, I needed to call that day.  I did, and we had an interview set up for Friday morning.  Now, in California, most of the public schools post any job openings they have on Edjoin.org, which is convenient because most of the time you can send an electronic application and it takes very little time.  I checked the website like I do most nights and there at the top of the page, the newest posting, was for a district that was looking for an AP US Government and AP Economics teacher.  After investigating a little, I realized that they start school on Monday, the 23rd.  I immediately got in my car looking for a place to go print off my information and their application.  This would be just too good to be true.

Friday morning, I get up and am ready by 7:00 am.  I drive the hour to the Riverside Unified School District to drop off my application.  I then head back towards Anaheim for my interview.  The interview lasted for almost an hour and a half, and I really did get a good feel about Vineyard Christian School.  It definitely is a place I could work.  I returned home around 1:00 pm and began to wait to hear from either one of the schools. The next chain of events had me going out of my mind....

2:00 pm:  I call the Riverside Unified School District's contact person in Human Resources to make sure that she received my application and that she didn't need anymore information from me.

2:30 pm:  I get a job offer from Vineyard Christian School. I speak with the principal and he tells me he'll call me back with the specific salary offer.

2:45 pm:  I send an email to the contact person at Riverside Unified School District asking about the timeline, expressing my interest, and letting her know about the offer I just received.

3:15 pm: The principal from Vineyard Christian School calls back to let me know what the salary would be.  He asks me to let him know on Friday if I'll accept or not, because teachers first day back is Monday.

3:20 pm:  I receive a call from Riverside Unified School District asking me to interview for their position on Monday.  From their starting salary scale, the difference in pay would be around $15,000 a year.

3:45 pm:  I call and speak with the principal at Vineyard and ask if I could let him know Monday.  I explained the situation to him and he understood.  Thankfully, he told me they would wait until Monday afternoon before moving on to someone else.

It was a crazy day to say the least, but again it goes to show that God will provide, just not always on the time schedule that we would like.  Monday will be an interesting day as well, but at least things are all starting to come together for us.

Pieces Coming Together

Friday was an all around good day! Chris had his first job interview with Vineyard Christian School and has another interview at Riverside Polytechnic High School on Monday (I’ll let him give you the details). We also, finally, got our IKEA items (see the pictures below) and our fridge (pictures also below)! And we were finally able to do some grocery shopping!

Here are all the IKEA boxes...I like their stuff, but be prepared to spend "hours" piecing it all together!

The completed sleeper sofa.  The bottom pulls out to make a full size sleeping area.  So we now have a place for visitors to sleep.

The completed bookshelf and desk.  We turned the dining room into an "office", since we don't have a table of any kind.

We can finally buy groceries..which we did.  Megan has turned into quite the bargain shopper.  Even though we went to four total grocery stores, we saved around $100 total!  Gotta love coupons!

As if that isn’t enough good news . . . We also received our first package today (see photo’s below) from our favorite group of teenagers and their leaders (i.e. Dena and Jenna)!

The box was a little beat up, but Mo knew right away that something in there belonged to him.

The package included a homemade card, Blitz Week video, some cute decorative items: a door hanger, tea light holder, and tea lights (from my favorite: Yankee Candle). There were also t-shirts for Chris and me: pink Carolina Girl for me (glad to know it is official---the South Carolinians will claim me), orange Clemson for him! And there was even a little something for Mo! He sniffed it out WAY before we opened the package! I just assumed he smelled familiar people on the box . . . Wrong.

We miss you all too!

We all LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our surprises! Thank you so much for thinking of us! We definitely did not expect it! It topped off an already fabulous day and made me think of and really, really, really miss you all! Now, if only our other belongings would arrive!

All of our great gifts!  Thanks everyone! And Mo loved the bone...

P.S. I loved the Blitz Week video! The carousel pictures on bowling night were fantastic and I cannot believe McKenlee got in the big ball spinney-thing at Funtasia (I must know--did he throw up)?

--Megan

Back to the Future

Today, Megan and I finally returned back to the future... well, at least the present day.  We have been without Internet/TV for almost a week now.  It is extremely weird being in a new place, with no access to any news, information, etc.  It is easy to forget how much of a luxury the Internet has become for us in our daily lives.  If we need an address, phone number or directions, most of our first thoughts today is simply to "Google" it.  After much trouble, we finally have our Internet installed and operational.  We have decided to forgo cable, at least for the foreseeable future simply to save money. 

We have moved into our apartment, which would have been much more exciting, except our stuff still won't arrive until Friday or Saturday.  That is also the day that our fridge and furniture from IKEA that we ordered will arrive.  So until then, we sit and wait in our empty apartment.  I have been flying through the seasons of West Wing, since there was little else to do, and Megan and I have watched a few movies as well.

We visited a new church on Sunday, Green Hills Baptist Church in La Habra, CA.  It was nice, and much bigger than Redeemer.  With the size, you lose the friendliness that Redeemer had, but I think Green Hills has a youth department.  It feels so weird to go to a church on Sunday and not be involved with youth.  To add to that, Chesnee started back to school. 

I miss interacting on a daily basis with teenagers. 

As weird as that may seem to some people, for the past three years teenagers have been my life.  I interacted with the students from Chesnee from Monday to Friday, and a lot of Saturdays, and the youth from New Pleasant on Wednesdays and Sundays, and during the summer, a lot of other nights too.  It is a hard void to replace.

Megan and I also joke that this whole area looks like it was built in the 1970s.  Many of the buildings and houses look like they came off an episode of That 70s Show, just a version located in California instead of Wisconsin.  We are still trying to get adjusted to the differences in lifestyles.  We thank everyone that has continued to pray for us.

Here are a few specific prayer request that we have for anyone interested:

1) A job opportunity.
2) Make friends with other young couples.
3) Megan's course work starting next week.
4) Finding a church home.

I'll include pictures of our apartment below... Love and miss everyone from back home!

Our Kitchen... Gas Stove, Dishwasher, and a big Pantry cabinet.

Having to do without a fridge for a week is harder than it may seem.

Sink area of the bathroom.  Right around the corner is a pretty large closet.

Shower and toilet... the vent in there works great! No steam at all after showers.

Bedroom empty with access to the large balcony.

Bedroom with our air mattress that we purchased. Notice Mo has no trouble sleeping on the air mattress.

Megan in the living room sitting in our "softball chairs".  The coffee table is something we bought at IKEA.  We had to purchase that at the store... they wouldn't ship it with the rest of the order.

The large balcony.  It really is huge.  As nice as it has been, as soon as I get a job, we'll get a table and chairs for out here, and this will be our dining room.

Blogs Don't Work Without the Internet

**This is an entry from Megan that was suppose to be uploaded on Thursday, August 12th.  The absence of the Internet has delayed it until today...

Today marks nearly a week and a half since we began our cross-country trek; and nearly a week since we arrived in CA. Quite a bit has transpired since we first left SC . . . However, I am learning more and more as the days pass that some things seem to follow you no matter where you go . . . Allow me to explain.


Since the moment of my call experience there have been three distinct parties of people:

1. People that support, encourage, and walk with me in my calling.
2. People that have no interest in, whatsoever, or are indifferent to, the conversation centered on “being called.”
3. Those that seemed utterly shocked, awed, and amazed that a female could be called to ministry! (Gasp)!

Through the duration of our travels, and since my time here in CA, I have encountered all of the above. I must admit, at first, I was a bit shocked to find so many people, here in CA, that assumed Chris was the one going to school instead of me. After all, this is supposed to be the more liberal coast! I suppose prejudices follow us everywhere and we too find ourselves discovering prejudices of our own as we experience those that belong to others.

Nevertheless, those that ask why I’m here and reply with, “Oh,” a look of utter shock, or a polite, “I see,” simply remind me that struggles and differences are everywhere. Yet, in the midst of it all there are always those that respond with: “Good for you!” or “That’s awesome!” or “Great, I’ll be praying for you.”

Aside from my ministerial call-related experiences I am also discovering that the term: “Clean,” has many different definitions. As many of you know, I am a bit of a neat freak (I know, understatement of the century). Along our journey we have experienced places that were, well, not quite up to my expectations, those that were close enough, and those that were nearly perfect! Likewise, our apartment search produced the same selection. Hopefully, barring anything unusual, we will have the keys to one of the “close enough” properties tomorrow! More details, and pictures, to come at that time.

Now, on to the reason we came on this crazy, memory-making, stress-producing journey in the first place: Talbot School of Theology. Upon our arrival Friday August 6 Chris and I took a self-given tour of the campus and just walked around a bit. I also scheduled an “official” tour for Wednesday August 11 with the PhD department administrative assistant, Tanya Wheeldon.

Yesterday, we drove the 10 or so minutes from our Extended Stay and took an “official” tour with Tanya. She was extremely helpful and we discovered there was more to the campus than we initially anticipated. I also had a chance to grace the Financial Aid office and was surprised to discover that things were easily ironed out and my tuition is now fully financed via a scholarship, grant, and student loans--YAY! There are kind, helpful, God-fearing people that work in Financial Aid Departments, imagine that!

To conclude this crazy week . . . We have ordered a fridge, bookshelf/desk unit, and pull-out sofa. Thankfully, familiar places to shop followed us across the country as well: Home Depot, Lowe's, Sears, JCPenny, IKEA, etc. So, with all that in mind, make plans to come visit us soon! We would love to see some familiar faces and show you around Southern California (or at least the part we have discovered)!

--Megan

Church Shopping

Google can be used for a lot of things these days, but I never really thought that I would use it to try and find a church.  Church "shopping" is such an odd thing... and it is something that I always feel awkward doing.  We knew that one difficult thing that we would have to do, and one thing that could ease our transition out here at the same time would be to find a new church.  So we began the search on Sunday.

We visited a church called Redeemer Baptist Church in La Mirada (formally First Baptist of La Mirada).  It was a smaller church than I think either one of us expected.  The service was great, and I really felt like I got something from the message.  The people, while small in number, were great as well.  There were a good many young couples, and we even met a couple that had moved to the area from Georgia.  The people seemed really genuine, and offered a lot of good advice.  Who knows, maybe we'll get to spend some more time with them.  Megan and I both liked the church a lot, but we plan on visiting some others before we think about making a decision. 

The one drawback from the church is that there are practically zero youth.  We both feel called to work with youth in some aspect, and while I think we could get a lot from the church, I don't know if we would be truly using the gifts God has given us.  We will most likely try a different church on Sunday.

By the way, it is amazing that any churches can gain new members.  The whole process is strange.  Churches on average are built on their routine.  For a new visitor, it is a giant guessing game of what the routine will be, hoping you don't sit in anyone's "assigned" seat.  For the good churches, the ones that are like a community, it is always awkward to be the new person in a community.  I guess this is more of a microcosm of our journey as a whole.  We are new in this community, and we are trying to find our new "pew". 

Going Hunting

Today we decided to embark on the ever elusive hunt for a cheap, yet not nasty apartment in the La Mirada area.  We began our journey by starting to call various apartment complexes to see if they even have any apartments available.  While we did get good news from the moving company and we don't have to rush, it still is difficult to find openings that we could move into in the next couple of weeks.

The first place we went to was not as it appeared online.  Plus, it was one of the most expensive places we saw today.  The second place was better, but was a long way away from Biola, which after all, is the entire reason for coming all this way.  We think we may have found our future apartment in the third one. It is an interesting place, and the rent is only $1080. (only 1080... didn't think I'd ever say that.)  We went to look at one other place, but we decided to go ahead and apply at the third place.

We will try to finalize those details on Monday and hopefully, we will be able to move in by next Saturday.  We may try and go look at some studio apartments on Monday as well, just to see what some of those look like and what we could get for a little less.  Having the apartment taken care of early on in the week should free up plenty of time for me to search for a job.  That has to be the thing that frustrates and worries me the most.  It is so hard to sit back and trust that God will provide when you feel almost helpless, but that is what faith is.  I know that we were brought out here for a reason, and that it will work out if it is in His will.

Once we returned back to the hotel, we looked for a few churches in the area that we might visit tomorrow.  This was the first real time that I missed being back in Gaffney this whole week.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow when I can't wake up and walk across the street and into the youth room.  It is going to be odd walking into a different church, but I know that finding a new church for Megan and I is an important step, not only for us spiritually, but also to help acclimate us to the area.  Hopefully, the people at our future church will help us adjust to the area. For now, Megan and I are going to curl up with Mo and watch a movie...if we don't fall asleep first.  It was a long hunt today.

Last Day: Flagstaff, AZ to La Mirada, CA

We finally have made it, and what a day it has been!  We set up the trip so that today's drive would be the shortest, intentially thinking that 1) we would be fairly tired at this point in the trip and 2) that we might want to go look around the city some today if we had time.  Even with the shorter drive, today seemed like the drive went on FOREVER!

The drive through western Arizona on I-40 has got to be one of the longest, windiest stretches of the US with absolutely nothing for miles.  The wind was very gusty, and it made it difficult to drive.  It was one of those that just drained you, and that was within the first two hours of so of our trip today. The scenery was pretty, but it was uninterrupted and seemingly lasted forever.

We finally made it to California and actually had to stop at an inspection station.  It is almost like California had their own customs check.  I think I caught the guy off guard a little when I told him we were from South Carolina.  He also asked if we had any animals in the car (with Mo sitting in Megan's lap in the front seat).  Once through, it was literally almost just like Arizona.  It really was an exhausting couple of hours.  Once we finally made it to Barstow (where I-40 starts/ends) we were quickly introduced to the California traffic.  It only got worse as we got closer to Los Angeles.

Traffic is something that we are going to have to get use to.  It was only 2:30 on a Friday and it was crazy! If you think traffic is bad somewhere like Greenville or Charlotte, that is nothing.  It even seemed worse than any traffic I've been stuck in Atlanta.  Needless to say, we are going to try to avoid the interstates as much as possible.

Once we finally made it to our hotel for the week, we took a little time just to unwind.  After eating a small bite to eat, we decided to go explore La Mirada.  We found Biola University and walked around the campus a little.  Most of the buildings look like they were built during the 70s.  We then drove around trying to find a grocery store, and just to get a feel for the area.  If we are going off of first impressions, we will be back in the South as soon as Megan finishes.  Strip malls are everywhere.  We did find at least one nicer shopping center and bought some groceries at Albertson's (and we got a discount card to add to our Bi-Lo and Ingles cards, which I doubt we can use out here). 

Tomorrow, we hope to start looking for apartments.  We found out from the moving company today that our shipment will arrive closer to the 19th, so we will have a couple of weeks to try and find a place.  It will be an adjustment to say the least...

Day 3: Amarillo, TX to Flagstaff, AZ

Today's leg was from Amarillo (D) to Flagstaff (E).

The finish line is almost in sight.  We only have one more day of driving left to go before the real adventure begins.  The trip has been surprisingly easy going.  We woke up today a little later than yesterday, because we knew we would be entering the Mountain Time Zone, so we would get that hour back.  Again, we stuck to our goal of wanting to get to our destination before 5:00 pm to give ourselves ample time to relax, and for Mo to have a chance to stretch his legs and play.  Today we also remembered to dig the camera out from the back of the car, so we actually took some pictures along the way.

From Amarillo to the New Mexico border was the panhandle of Texas I was expecting.  Stretches for miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles.  At one point, we thought we had come across potentially the world's largest junk yard.  However, as we got closer we realized it was a gigantic dairy farm.  I'm talking about cows in their pens for almost a mile!

This is just a small part of the dairy farm that we thought was a junk yard from a mile off.

Wind turbine fields in Texas.  We also saw these throughout Oklahoma, and some in New Mexico.

Mo curled up asleep in my lap as I drive.  He liked to try and use the steering wheel as a pillow, and always seemed a little upset when I had to turn it.

We continued on and finally entered New Mexico.  This is an absolutely beautiful part of the country.  The red rock formations are spectacular.  New Mexico was the first state that really had a bunch of road work on I-40, but no real delays.  I found it odd that whenever you entered a work zone, there was a sign posted that told you the cost of the project.  Talk about government accountability, and then when you left the work zone, it told the comany who did the work and gave a phone number. 

The bridges (some of them anyway) were very unique.  Albequerque was a cool looking city, and I wish we would have been able to go through Santa Fe... maybe another time.  We passed the western continental divide and then started making our way into Arizona.  We also caught the edge of wht appeared to be a pretty nasty storm.

This is the storm we got caught in for just a few minutes.  Notice how it is just barely over the Interstate. To the right of the picture was where the worst of the storm was.

We had been told to make sure you don't let your gas tank get too low in New Mexico because there were stretches where you wouldn't see a gas station for miles... well I think they meant Arizona.  Very few cities along I-40 in Arizona.  We did go through Winslow, AZ (like in the song) and then we made it to Flagstaff, out stopping point for the night.  Flagstaff is absolutely beautiful and the weather is great too!  It is also the only place so far where we got stuck in traffic, just five minutes from our hotel.  25 minutes later, we arrived.

The mountains in Arizona as we close in on Flagstaff.

Tomorrow we should arrive in La Mirada, CA, and hopefully get there early enough to be able to start our apartment hunt!  Should be an exciting day!  I think we are both just ready to get there and finally have a chance to start our new lives, but just like the miles we've traveled to get  here won't be forgotten, neither will the past couple of years.  Everybody is the total sum of their experiences, and we would never have been able to do what we are doing now if it wasn't for all the people that have crossed our paths.  Los Angeles here we come!

Here is a picture of our car packed at my parent's house.  Notice there is not a lot of extra room.